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FAITH KNOWLEDGE AND CONDUCT
influences, but they are never destroyed altogether. When rid of all its burdens the quality of joy will manifest itself fully in the consciousness of the soul.
Thus, the joy that is independent of the physical body and the mind (memory or imagination) appertains to the soul itself. When it is fully realized it will supersede all the different forms of pleasure which will then be reduced, on account of the destruction of their cravings, that is, impulses, to so many general or generalised ideas.
Pleasure and pain are not felt in the central organ of the mind, which is only the seat of thought, not sensations, though it can recall and revive any sensation at
will.
The fact is that the soul fills the whole body and is capable of feeling the affections, like pleasure and pain, in different parts of it. If the soul did not fill the whole body and was seated only in a central part, say, the lotus of the heart, then, it would have to depend on a messsage from the seat of affection. But no message can actually communicate a pleasurable or painful sensation, e.g., one of burning. For it is a message about fire, not fire itself which can be sent along the nerves. If actual fire could travel over them they at least would be burnt up all along the route! If a man at Calcutta heard that his house in New York was on fire, he would be merely distressed by the intelligence,
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